It wasn’t the way Scott Mason envisioned ushering in the month of March when, in the early hours of March 1, two masked men broke into the back entrance of Mason Jewelers and began furiously smashing glass display cases with a hammer, then shoving shiny merchandise into plastic bins. In a matter of one minute and 40 seconds, they had absconded with thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry.
“I was shocked to get the call, first from the alarm company then the police,” Mason says. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years and have never dealt with this before.”
Mason’s father Harold, a watchmaker, founded the business in Greencastle in 1957. The family opened a second shop in Plainfield in 1982.
“Dad introduced me and my brother Steve to the business,” Mason says. “Steve runs the Greencastle store and I run this one.”
The primarily lesson Harold instilled in his sons is that customers come first. As a result, they always go above and beyond what customers expect. For instance, they proudly offer a lifetime guarantee on all new and used jewelry. There are no stipulations on that lifetime guarantee, such as needing to bring it in for inspection every six months.
“We guarantee it for life,” Mason says.
They also show their customers love by simply not smothering them when they step inside.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’ll never go back to jewelry store XYZ because the salespeople pounced on me right from the start,’” Mason says. “We don’t use pressure salesmanship.”
Their team, made up of Mason and his son Anthony along with Stephanie Russell, Angela Dell, Andee Yablonowski and Carol Middleton, is there to help customers in any way they can. They invite customers to take their time looking around. That’s precisely why they have built great relationships through the years. In fact, when Anthony posted on social media about the robbery, scores of customers voiced their support and concern.
“I’m so sorry,” wrote Trudy Tharp. “You are such wonderful people.”
Patrick Quillin wrote, “From a grateful community, your losses are our losses. Please let us know how we may help you.”
People reached out to say how relieved they were that everybody was safe.
That’s what Mason focused on too. Though it was a heartbreaking experience to be robbed, Mason’s first two thoughts were of his customers – he was relieved that the robbery didn’t take place during hours of operation so nobody was hurt, and also relieved that no customer jewelry was touched because it was all stored in a safe.
Mason invites the community to stop in this month for their grand reopening sale, which features a promotion.
Mason Jewelers is located at 1822 East Main Street in Plainfield. For more information, call 317-839-3202 or visit masonjewelersco.com.
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